I had the opportunity to attend the recent South Holyoke Development Forum this past Thursday and was struck by how poor that neighborhood is. That neighborhood needs some positive reinforcement. My wife and I have purchased an apartment building that neighbors the Morgan School, in South Holyoke. The total rehab is under way to rejuvenate and provide much needed quality housing for the neighborhood. The building is the bad apple on the block, and when completed in the fall, will make the block next to the school whole, and safe. We are investing in this community because we care and want to make a difference. And so that is how we came to be at the Development Forum. While there, we were able to discuss with the locals, in conjunction with members of HAP and other representatives of the City, ways to improve this marginalized sector.

    Of most pressing concern seems to be the pending uncertainty of the future of the Morgan School, due to the constrained school budget for the coming year. The Morgan School, as it exists now, provides a stable, positive cornerstone of education and services to the community. Not only does the school provide education for the children of the area, but it also encourages parents to live in proximity to the school; in other words, the Morgan School is a draw for needed residency in this suffering area. Furthermore, the recent study conducted by the Cecil Group, has highlighted the great need of the school to act as a stabilizing force, for the previously mentioned reasons, and also for the auxiliary activates that bolster the community. There are many after-school programs for the youth of the community. The youth were identified as a great concern for the residents. The young people need healthy positive past times, so they do not fall into destructive behaviors such as gang related allegiances, substance abuse, and other un-healthy fall-out of their impoverished environment. Beyond youth programs, the Morgan School also has become a focal point for the community to gather. Another finding of the Development Forum highlighted the great need for a Community Center. The School provides this great need. The Morgan School has meeting space, a library, and other benefits like a gymnasium.

    The Development Forum, itself, was held there, and My building neighbors the school, so I do have a vested personal stake in seeing it remain functional and providing the services it does.

However, in a wider respect I am concerned for the growth of Holyoke in general.

    As the poorest sector of the city, I feel that special attention needs to be placed on stabilizing the degeneration of the South Holyoke Area, at the very least.  (Not degenerating it further by limiting the role of the Morgan school.)  The great concern is that the Morgan School, as the pre-eminent force of such stability, if closed or even modified to pre-school use only, or administrative office space, would in a very real way detract from this poorest section of Holyoke to a disastrous extent. I don’t think I can stress this enough. The loss of the Morgan School, as it functions now, would be devastating to a community already on its knees.

The Greater Good of Holyoke and the Positive Image so crucial to forward growth of the city hinges on revitalizing South Holyoke, not undermining it further.

    The overwhelming reality that 24,000 cars a day (a figure provided by the Cecil Planning Group) pass along the Main Street Corridor (and this is is through South Holyoke) that runs from the 391 off ramps, and then into downtown, should be reason enough for the School Committee, City Council, and the Mayor to value the Vitality of the South Holyoke Community. 

 Since this corridor is so very well traveled and in prominent view of passers-by, visitors to Holyoke, prospective shoppers, and potential tax payers, it is Critical that the City and its People (building owners, etc) devote the attention and understanding to create a positive impression. One of the Cecil groups main points for the eventual rejuvenation of a downtrodden, depressed city/neighborhood was to improve the initial visual and sensory appeal of the area!

    In the Tipping Point, a groundbreaking study on how change happens and a great resource for anyone interested in effecting positive change for a community, the author, Malcome Gladwell, discusses the same phenomenon of visual appeal that the Cecil Group highlighted. The Broken Windows Theory, that crime is the inevitable result of disorder, says that “If a window is broken and left un-repaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is taking charge. Soon more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street it faces, sending a signal that anything goes. In a city, minor problems like graffiti, public disorder, and aggressive panhandling, …are the equivalent of broken windows (The Tipping Point, Gladwell, Malcome. Littie Brown and Co., NY, 2002, p 141).”

    The good news is, as the author presents in his book, that the opposite of the Broken Windows Theory: Fixed Windows, if you will, can spark a similar domino effect of improvement and growth. The book goes on to explain how a simple anti-graffiti campaign initiated by the Mayor of New York City sparked a dramatic decline in violent crime on the subway. The widespread graffiti was a signal to potential deviants that breaking the rules was okay, but when the City cracked down and cleaned up the cars and refused to allow any to have graffiti, this also sent a signal. The polished, clean look reinforced order and there was a dramatic decrease in violent crime, public drunkenness, and muggings.

    In conclusion, I am arguing that diminishing South Holyoke further by reducing the positive force of the Morgan School, (or indeed, placing a garbage transfer station in such an already diminished area), will be a GREAT Broken Window that will have a negative effect. Further decline in the South Holyoke area Will reflect on the Main Street Corridor, and in turn on the minds of the thousands of people that travel through on a daily basis. The City of Holyoke needs to build its positive image in general, to further promote positive growth and development. South Holyoke is a very prominent Broken Window on the Building of the City and needs to be Fixed. Small steps, such as implementing flower boxes, street lights, pedestrian walk ways, artistic murals, and street cleaning could be great, inexpensive improvements that would bode well for South Holyoke, and the City’s own positive growth in general. (As the recent meeting was well attended by over 100 concerned citizens, these small measures are steps the local people are willing and ready to take, perhaps without the need for city funding, however some city encouragement would be helpful, as many of the residents are poor, uneducated, and unfamiliar with organized social movements).  The point is, Removing or limiting the Role of the Morgan School would be an action that would have serious negative consequences for the vitality of the neighborhood, and by extension the City of Holyoke in general.

      Where-ever you may stand on the issue, I do thank you for your attention to the needs of this fine city.

All the best,

Michael Powell

editor, Holyokebiz.com

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